Pizza Wine

Dolcetto = Pizza Wine

My favorite pizza wine is dolcetto. Obviously depends on the type of pizza, but as a general rule of thumb dolcetto works very well! I’d try the dolcetto from Nadia Curto or the one from Alessandro Veglio!

Need a recipe? Check out this one.

Friday Pizza and Pizza Wine

Barbera also works well as Pizza Wine

If your pizza has some meat, like salami or prosiutto, the acidity of a barbera will pair really well. The same goes for extra cheesy pizza, like Quatro Fromaggio. The ones are some of my favorites these days:
Diego Morra Barbera d’Alba
Ghiomo Barbera Lavai
Cigliuti Barbera

Other wines to try

Nadia Curto Freisa is another wine you can pair with pizza. Haven’t heard of Freisa? I’m not surprised. Freisa is a lesser known grape varietal from Piemonte. With the acidity like a barbera and tannins of nebbiolo, it’s a perfect combination! And it pairs well with pizza!

Nebbiolo is also a good alternative, instead of dolcetto or barbera. Try the one from Giovanni Corino or Elio Altare.

Modern Pizza

Tandoori Pizza from Vinoteket

Noawdays you can put anything on a pizza. There’s Pizza Carbonara, pizza with king crab and chicken tandoori. With modern twists like this, wine pairing can be challenging. But, if you try to pair the wine with the topping, you should find something that fits. So, with seafood pizza, try Vietti Arneis or Matrot Chardonnay.

Favorite Friday Pizza Wine

As most of you know, I make pizza on Fridays. And along with my pizza, I usually have a glass of wine (or three). Here are some of my favorite wines to drink with my pizza (or honestly just any time).

Burlotto Barbera & Barbera Aves
Marengo Barbera
Cavallotto Dolcetto
Andrea Oberto Dolcetto
Trediberri Langhe Nebbiolo

Some of these wines are available at Vinmonopolet! If you can’t find the wine you like, let me know and I can help you track it down. If you want more suggestions, you can subscribe to my Newsletter!

 

Pizza Wine

Tignanello – why we call it the Pizza Wine

 

IMG_8591Maybe you’ve heard me say that I am having Pizza Wine with my Friday Pizza? Well, there’s a story behind the concept.

Normally, a “pizza wine” would be a dolcett, barbera or a langhe nebbiolo. Something light to have with your pizza, nothing super fancy or expensive. But we sometimes refer to the Tignanello wine as a Pizza Wine – why?

Some friends of mine were having dinner and drinking wines (some really good wines). Among those wines was the Tignanello, and compared to the other wines present it was quite “simple”. (Yes I know Tignanello is a very good wine with a very good reputation, but keep in mind the context). Anyway, after having had some truly amazing wines they opened the Tignanello, and it was clear they all struggled to sort of “place it” compared to the other ones. So one of the guys said: “You know, this wine is a great Pizza Wine”.

And thus it was forever known as “The Pizza Wine”.

 

Wine of the Week

Marchesi Antinori Tignanello 2007

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Wine: Tignanello

Producer: Marchesi Antinori

Region/Appellation: Toscana, Italy

Grape varieties: 80% Sangiovese, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5 % Cabernet Franc

Vintage: 2007

 

Eye: intense ruby red

Nose: red ruits, spices, hints of vanilla

Mouth: dark red fruits, hints of toast, well balanced

Price Point: $60

Available at Vinmonopolet: yes, but maybe not 2007

Available at Systembolaget: yes, but maybe not 2007

Friday Pizza with a twist

How to make Friday Pizza Mario Batali style

As you know, I make pizza almost every friday, also known as Friday Pizza. I have been making the same pizza for years, so I recently tried a new recipe. And you know what? I will probably make it this way going forward instead of the old way.

Because H-O-L-Y C-O-W: It turned out amazing!

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Friday Pizza Ingredients

Dough:

  • 1 1/4 cups warm water
  • 1 1/4 ounce pack active dry yeast
  • 1 1/2 tbsp sugar
  • 3 1/2 cups flour
  • 2 tbsp salt
  • 1/4 cup olive oil

Sauce:

  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 4 garlic cloves
  • 3 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
  • 1/2 medium carrot, grated
  • 2 (28 ounce) cans peeled whole tomatoes
  • Salt

 

Friday Pizza Ingredients

Friday Pizza steps:

Pizza dough:

  1. Combine yeast. warm water and sugar, let sit for 10 minutes (until frothy)
  2. Combine flour and salt in a large bowl
  3. Add yeast mixture and mix the ingredients until the dough is too stiff to stir. Continue with your hands until the dough doesn’t stick to the sides (add flour as necessary)
  4. Leave to rise.

Pizza sauce:

  1. Heat the olive oil in a pan, add onion and garlic, cook until soft and light golden brown (about 8-10 minutes)
  2. Add thyme and carrot, cook 5 more minutes, until carrot is quite soft
  3. Add the tomatoes and juice, bring to boil, while stirring (and crushing the tomatoes)
  4. Lower the heat after it is brought to boil, let simmer for 30 minutes
  5. This is where I put my twist: put it in a food processor. This will make it a smooth sauce (I don’t like lumps).

Friday Pizza

Friday Pizza

When you have made the dough and the sauce, roll out the pizza (or toss it if you are that good), add the sauce and whatever ingredients you like. In the picture there is regular margherita and a four cheese pizza, also a recipe from Mario Batali. Here are some of his recipes. 

Friday Pizza

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Friday Pizza has been a longstanding tradition. When Friday comes around, wherever I am, I try to make pizza. Lake Como, Milano, Stavanger, Boston; doesn’t matter. Recently, Friday Pizza has been accompanied by Blind Tasting. This particular occasion was to teach my brother’s friend a little about wine. We decided to stay in one area, so Piemonte wines were on the menu.

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It ended up being one of each grape and then of course both versions of Nebbiolo. And my dad picked wines that show the typical characteristics of each one. Dolcetto and Barbera by Bartolo Mascarello. Nebbiolo and Barolo from Marengo. Absolutely fantastic. The 2012 Barolo was a little young but decanting it helped slightly. Overall a great meal and an interesting “wine lesson”.

 

Monforte Pizzeria

monforte pizza menu

Piemonte is easily associated with good food. Good pizza, however, is hard to come by. If you are looking for Pizza, Monforte is the place to go. Right in the Piazza is an excellent pizza place. The have other dishes of course but it is a common place to get pizza. They also have a very good wine list and because it’s located in the piazza, it is usually quite lively. One Friday during our vacation, we had Friday Pizza here. I got my usual Margherita with prosciutto! It was belissimo!monforte pizza

Friday Pizza and Recipe

Dough: Flour, 1 tsp yeast, pinch of salt, pinch of sugar, water (body temperature)

Mix the yeast with body temperature water (however much you want), add the salt and sugar. Then add flour until the dough is perfect to work with.

Sauce: tomato paste, basil, oil, pepper

Mix the ingredients together. The amount depends on how much you want to make, play it by ear.

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Last nights Friday Pizza with Vietti Perbacco!

Friday Pizza

Friday Pizza is served @Cantina Granveien. 

We try to serve Pizza every Friday, always home made, with fresh mozarella and prosciutto. With the wine, we usually serve a Dolcetto or Barbera– a strange combination maybe, Pizza and Wine, but PizzaWine has become a well know term in Cantina Granveien and it’s guests.

 (For those of you who don’t know, Cantina Granveien is our house) 

Today’s Pizza Wine: Bartolo Mascarello’s Dolcetto. Divine. Superb. Wonderful.